7 h 34 minAudiobook3 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What dreadful secret can hide behind the old stone houses of a quiet Paris island?
In The Bloody Doll, Gaston Leroux brings mystery and gothic dread to the Île Saint-Louis, a small island in the Seine. Old houses and quiet quays frame a tale of obsession, dark secrets and murder. The setting invites you to look beyond the calm street, toward hidden lives and a crime that must be solved.
Leroux brings a reporter’s eye to this dark world. His work in journalism and the courts shapes his fiction, where suspense meets strong feeling. Here, the pleasure lies in the slow uncovering of secrets: dramatic exchanges, sudden danger and long talks that sort out what is known. Read for the gathering unease, rather than the pace of a modern police story.
What you’ll discover
- A quiet island’s shadows Explore an old Paris quarter where stone houses and quiet quays frame dark secrets.
- Obsession at the heart Enter a gothic mystery whose darkness draws on obsession, hidden lives and murder.
- A reporter’s eye Discover crime fiction shaped by Leroux’s experience as a journalist and court reporter.
- Secrets revealed slowly Savour suspense in small doses as the story gradually uncovers what lies beneath.
- Drama and sudden danger Find strong feelings and searching conversations in the dramatic style of early French mystery.
Who will love it
For readers who love early French detective fiction, gothic atmosphere and the uncovering of secrets, with obsession and crime haunting the old houses of Paris.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Leroux brings a journalist's eye to crime
- Paris itself becomes a gothic setting
- Obsession drives the dark side of the tale
- How to read an old French mystery
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Read and hear La Poupée sanglante in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
La Poupée sanglante
by Gaston Leroux · 1923
On the Île Saint-Louis, quiet streets hide dark secrets, obsession and a crime that must be solved.
Easy read5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Bloody Doll is a mystery by Gaston Leroux, the French writer best known for The Phantom of the Opera. Leroux was a journalist and court reporter before he turned to fiction, and he wrote in the early twentieth century, when serial stories filled the French papers.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Leroux brings a journalist's eye to crime
Gaston Leroux worked as a reporter and covered trials before he wrote novels. That training shaped his fiction. He liked facts, clues and the way a crowd reacts to a crime.
His best-known detective tale is The Mystery of the Yellow Room, which made him a leading name in French mystery writing. His readers expected puzzles that could be reasoned out, wrapped in a strong mood.
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Who wrote The Bloody Doll?
The Bloody Doll was written by Gaston Leroux, the French author who also wrote The Phantom of the Opera and The Mystery of the Yellow Room. He wrote in the early twentieth century.
What kind of book is The Bloody Doll?
It is a gothic mystery, a form that joins suspense, secrets and a dark setting. It belongs to the tradition of French popular fiction that first appeared in newspapers and magazines.
Where is The Bloody Doll set?
The title places the story on the Île Saint-Louis, a small island in the Seine in central Paris, known for its old stone houses and quiet quays.
The author
Gaston Leroux
1868–1927 · French mystery novelist
Gaston Leroux was a French author and journalist born in Paris in 1868. He wrote mystery novels, including The Mystery of the Yellow Room, published in 1907, and The Phantom of the Opera, serialized in 1909–1910. He later lived in Nice, where he died in 1927.
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